"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water." - Ernest Hemingway, Death In the Afternoon. Scribner's, 1932, 192 (Reuben).
Ernest Hemingway, American Red Cross volunteer, Milan, Italy, 1918 (Ermeni Studios).
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Ernest Hemingway is known as on of the masters of prose from the twentieth century. Born in a suburb of Chicago as the nineteenth century waned, he grew up visiting the backwoods of Michigan with his father, a doctor. Stories that echo those experiences can be read in The Complete Short Stories (Scribner 1998). Hemingway's high school experiences in journalism led him to a job as a reporter for the Kansas City Star when he was not allowed to enlist in World War I ("Ernest Hemingway").
Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms
This story of love and war is not the first about either topic, but it is one of literature's most powerful representations of what war does to the human psyche. The protagonist, Lieutenant Henry, is an American ambulance driver working for the Italian military (learn about Italy during World War I at First World War.com). He struggles with being the man he wants to be while living on the front, a place where morals are fluid. He falls in love with Catherine Barkley, an English nurse, after he is injured and sent to a hospital. "I kissed her and saw that her eyes were shut. I kissed both her shut eyes. I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was. I did not care what I was getting into" (Hemingway 30, BookRags). As their love affair continues, it leads Henry further and further away from the life he started with, which is in turn a seeming universe from the life he left behind in the US.
Their love affair is both tragic and beautiful, a testament not only to the travesties of war (Hemingway himself worked in Italy during the war), but also to the terse, specific way Hemingway uses language. Not a word is wasted as he describes battle scenes, deaths, even the throes of adulation and obsession. "They were beaten to start with. They were beaten when they took them from their farms and put them in the army. That is why the peasant has wisdom, because he is defeated from the start. Put him in power and see how wise he is" (Hemingway 179, NovelGuide). Though the sentences are simple, they take the reader beyond simple prose.
Henry is an interesting character: is some ways he is very naïve, but in others, he is very perceptive. In many ways, he sees through his friend Rinaldi and the war itself. "The war seemed as far away as the football games of someone else's college. But I knew from the papers that they were still fighting in the mountains because the snow would not come" (Hemingway 291, BookRags). One of the most incredible things about this novel, as in so many of Hemingway's novels, is that he is able to show readers a sort of archetype: the young man disillusioned with war but unable to create a real life for himself outside its bounds.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. qtd. in "A Farewell to Arms Book Notes Summary." 2006. Book Rags. 29 Oct. 2007. <http://www.bookrags.com/notes/fta/QUO.htm>.*NOTE TO STUDENTS: I think I loaned one of you my book, otherwise I wouldn't be using a web resource for quotations. You won't use the web instead of a book, I know.*
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. qtd. in "NovelGuide: A Farewell to Arms." 2007. NovelGuide.com. 29 Oct. 2007. <http://www.novelguide.com/AFarewellToArms/toptenquotes.html>.*NOTE TO STUDENTS: I think I loaned one of you my book, otherwise I wouldn't be using a web resource for quotations. You won't use the web instead of a book, I know.*
Ermeni Studios. "EH 2723P Ernest Hemingway, American Red Cross volunteer." Photo. Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. 24 Jan. 2010. <http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset+Tree/Asset+Viewers/Image+Asset+Viewer.htm?guid={B7E70402-BD3A-4133-817F-0FC459B16138}&type=Image>.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Ernest Hemingway is known as on of the masters of prose from the twentieth century. Born in a suburb of Chicago as the nineteenth century waned, he grew up visiting the backwoods of Michigan with his father, a doctor. Stories that echo those experiences can be read in The Complete Short Stories (Scribner 1998). Hemingway's high school experiences in journalism led him to a job as a reporter for the Kansas City Star when he was not allowed to enlist in World War I ("Ernest Hemingway").Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms
This story of love and war is not the first about either topic, but it is one of literature's most powerful representations of what war does to the human psyche. The protagonist, Lieutenant Henry, is an American ambulance driver working for the Italian military (learn about Italy during World War I at First World War.com). He struggles with being the man he wants to be while living on the front, a place where morals are fluid. He falls in love with Catherine Barkley, an English nurse, after he is injured and sent to a hospital. "I kissed her and saw that her eyes were shut. I kissed both her shut eyes. I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was. I did not care what I was getting into" (Hemingway 30, BookRags). As their love affair continues, it leads Henry further and further away from the life he started with, which is in turn a seeming universe from the life he left behind in the US.
Their love affair is both tragic and beautiful, a testament not only to the travesties of war (Hemingway himself worked in Italy during the war), but also to the terse, specific way Hemingway uses language. Not a word is wasted as he describes battle scenes, deaths, even the throes of adulation and obsession. "They were beaten to start with. They were beaten when they took them from their farms and put them in the army. That is why the peasant has wisdom, because he is defeated from the start. Put him in power and see how wise he is" (Hemingway 179, NovelGuide). Though the sentences are simple, they take the reader beyond simple prose.
Henry is an interesting character: is some ways he is very naïve, but in others, he is very perceptive. In many ways, he sees through his friend Rinaldi and the war itself. "The war seemed as far away as the football games of someone else's college. But I knew from the papers that they were still fighting in the mountains because the snow would not come" (Hemingway 291, BookRags). One of the most incredible things about this novel, as in so many of Hemingway's novels, is that he is able to show readers a sort of archetype: the young man disillusioned with war but unable to create a real life for himself outside its bounds.
Works Cited
"Author Biography: Ernest Hemingway." Holt Elements of Literature. Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 30 Sept. 2008. <http://eolit.hrw.com/hlla/authorbios/index2.jsp?author=11ernesthemingway&WebLogicSession=QmmHlrTSl91ICx1IXsskC6NwH2mdJTrwvgNG6k9ZKEKVf8DrEMj7|-50237071252524065>."A Farewell to Arms 1/10 (1932)." YouTube.com. 24 Jan. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dfYP_vpWGU>.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. qtd. in "A Farewell to Arms Book Notes Summary." 2006. Book Rags. 29 Oct. 2007. <http://www.bookrags.com/notes/fta/QUO.htm>. *NOTE TO STUDENTS: I think I loaned one of you my book, otherwise I wouldn't be using a web resource for quotations. You won't use the web instead of a book, I know.*
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. qtd. in "NovelGuide: A Farewell to Arms." 2007. NovelGuide.com. 29 Oct. 2007. <http://www.novelguide.com/AFarewellToArms/toptenquotes.html>. *NOTE TO STUDENTS: I think I loaned one of you my book, otherwise I wouldn't be using a web resource for quotations. You won't use the web instead of a book, I know.*
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 7: Ernest Hemingway." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. 26 Oct. 2007. <http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/hemingway.html>.
Ermeni Studios. "EH 2723P Ernest Hemingway, American Red Cross volunteer." Photo. Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. 24 Jan. 2010.
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